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STORY: GENEVA / HOMS DETAINEES WRAP
TRT: 3.01
SOURCE: CH UNTV / UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 FEBRUARY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide, Press room, Palais des Nations, Geneva.
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, UNHCR Spokesperson:
“We did evacuate over around 1400 people but it was estimated that there were 4000 trapped in the city and of those estimates and we're learning a lot from these people as they come out there were about 2500 in total who were deemed in need of evacuation So we're hoping that this evacuation will continue over the next few days.”
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, UNHCR Spokesperson:
“There are right now 381 men and boys and we say boys because they are still boys in our view and I think in the view of everyone sitting in this panel between the ages of 15 and 18 who are in the facility.”
5. Med shot, presser
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, UNICEF spokesperson:
“As of last night 18 children between 15 and up to 18 years old who were being vetted at the Al-Andalus shelter have been released and another 14 children remain.”
11. Close up shot, journalist
FILE – RECENT
12. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters, New York City
13 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
13. Wide shot, Valerie Amos walking to the stakeout position
FILE – RECENT
14. Close up, camera
13 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs:
“I told the Security Council that it is unacceptable that four months since the members of that Council demanded that action, international humanitarian law continues to be consistently and flagrantly violated by all parties to the conflict. All parties are failing to in their responsibilities to protect civilians. We understand that a war is going on, but even wars have rules.”
FILE – RECENT
14. Close up, journalist typing laptop
13 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
15. Wide shot, Valerie Amos walking away and Samantha Power walking to the stakeout position
FILE – RECENT
14. Close up, journalist typing mobile phone
13 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations:
“The United States strongly supports the draft humanitarian resolution circulated to the Council on Tuesday – which I am sure most of you have managed to read by now – and we are negotiating within the Council to ensure a final text that will make a real difference on the ground. Working in unison, we were able to negotiate a resolution to rid the world of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, an effort, as you know, is very much a work in progress. But now, this Council must speak with a united voice demanding immediate, full humanitarian access to those in need, particularly in besieged areas and increased flows of assistance, including across borders.”
FILE – RECENT
16. Close up, camera
13 FEBRUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
17. Wide shot, Samantha Power walks away from stakeout position
The UN Refugee Agency warned that dozens of men and boys aged 15 to 55 — who left Old Homs during an agreed cease-fire, are still being held and questioned by Syrian authorities.
Speaking today (14 Feb) to journalist in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Flemming explained that the Syrian government considers males between those ages to be potential combatants and they must obtain security clearance before they can be released; adding that if the authorities suspect any of them of being rebels, they will likely be detained.
She said “there are right now 381 men and boys and we say boys because they are still boys in our view; and I think in the view of everyone sitting in this panel between the ages of 15 and 18 who are in the facility.”
Also speaking to reporters at the same briefing in Geneva, UNICFEF spokesperson Marixia Mercado said “as of last night, 18 children between 15 and up to 18 years old who were being vetted at the Al-Andalus shelter have been released and another 14 children remain.”
Yesterday (13 Jan), Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos told members of the Security Council “that it is unacceptable that four months since the members of that Council demanded that action, international humanitarian law continues to be consistently and flagrantly violated by all parties to the conflict. All parties are failing to in their responsibilities to protect civilians.”
She underlined “we understand that a war is going on, but even wars have rules.”
Amos called on the members of the Security Council to do everything the can to use their influence over the parties of the conflict to ensure that they are abide by humanitarian laws and cease-fires, give humanitarian actors sustained and regular access, commit in writing to uphold the international humanitarian law and prevent humanitarian workers to be shot at.
Also speaking outside the Security Council, US ambassador Samantha Power stressed last night that in Syria the world is witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation.
She noted that Homs is only a small part of a larger catastrophe; adding that the Security Council must take humanitarian action.
In that sense, Power said “the United States strongly supports the draft humanitarian resolution circulated to the Council on Tuesday – which I am sure most of you have managed to read by now – and we are negotiating within the Council to ensure a final text that will make a real difference on the ground.”
She added “working in unison, we were able to negotiate a resolution to rid the world of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, an effort, as you know, is very much a work in progress. But now, this Council must speak with a united voice demanding immediate, full humanitarian access to those in need, particularly in besieged areas and increased flows of assistance, including across borders.”
